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Thin and Beautiful HDTV!

OLEDs — organic light-emitting diodes — are emissive devices that are one of the most promising novel technologies that could result in a revolution in television technology. The image is fast and colorful and bright like a regular CRT, but they are as thin as a sheet of thick paper. They produce their own light, so there’s no need for the backlight used with LCDs. And some companies are experimenting with manufacturing OLED displays using inkjet printers instead of the expensive procedures used to create LCD and plasma panels.

One of the leading companies in the field is Cambridge Display Technology (CDT), and they announced earlier this month that they produced a number of 14-inch panels using inkjet printing. The displays have a resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels, suitable for computer or 720p HDTV applications.

This is exciting news. Smaller passive matrix monochrome OLEDs have been in production for quite a while, but this is one of the first publicized attempts at production of large, full-color panels. It looks as though CDT has made great strides. We’re probably still years away from when you will be able to walk into a store and buy a 40-inch OLED TV, but this is a big step towards that day.